Meet and Greet
by bukalay
Summary: Hiro was in an arcade when he bumped into an actress. Could this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship? Or will this new person ruin Hiro's life?


Arcades in the country were considered a niche entertainment place nowadays, considering that most gamers can buy their own gaming machines, gaming consoles and/or a desktop computer and play at the comfort of their homes.

And a certain boy genius was here for some reason.

"Take that! Ha!" Hiro shouted as he slammed down a hammer on a machine.

The machine measured the amount of force he put into slamming the hammer. It showed that the noodle boy only managed to put in a quarter of the force required to reach the top. His score was 25 points.

"Stupid Professor Lebur." He whispered angrily.

He decided to leave the hammer slamming machine in favor of finding another one. He searched around a very vacant arcade, there were more machines in here than there are people. He found another machine that he felt would take his mind off of what he was thinking and approached it.

When he bumped into someone.

"Sorry!" The person Hiro bumped into apologized shyly.

"N-no! Its okay!" Hiro bashfully replied. "It was my fault for not paying attention!" He stated. "I apologize." He finished his statements with a bow of apology.

"So I guess that makes us even then…" The girl trailed off as she extended her right hand while her left hand scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

"Oh!" Hiro started. "Hiro, Hiro Hamada." He introduced himself as he shook her hand.

"I'm Penny, Penny Forrester." She introduced herself.

While both of their hands were shaking, that was when both children took a good notice of the other's clothes and outfit.

Hiro was wearing an open blue hooded jacket over a red shirt, dirty white knee-length short pants and black shoes. His usual outfit when he travels inside the city of San Fransokyo.

Penny on the other hand wore a black long sleeved shirt under a red shirt with short sleeves, gray and white striped tights under a gray pair of shorts, brown sock and brown shorts. Her casual outfit whenever she travels from place to place.

"By any chance are you that Penny that starred in that recently concluded TV show, Bolt?" He inquired.

The girl before him looked a lot like that child star from the recently concluded TV show. It was a show about how a loyal dog saves his master from the clutches of a villain. It was a TV show that was family friendly at first but took a darker turn in the middle of the story. Suffice to say, it didn't click well with parents.

"No!" Penny denied. "I just happen to look like her." She explained. "Besides if I did star in that show, don't you think the people would have a different name for the character that I played?" She offered.

"Huh." Hiro muttered. "A Long lost twin maybe?" He narrowed his eyes in concentration.

Penny's eyes widened at this, the boy before her was very perceptive. She definitely doesn't have a twin. Why can't she have a vacation where she can be herself: no media, no fans, no creepy stalkers and definitely no annoying agent who's never giving up trying to convince her to go back to acting?

"Maybe just a case of a doppelganger." She offered.

He bought the lie right?

"Maybe." He shrugged.

Hiro definitely didn't believe the statement. It was very rare to meet someone's long lost twin and even rarer to meet someone's doppelganger.

Penny looked around and there were no people in the near vicinity. She couldn't possibly talk to an older stranger and browsing in the store alone would just be too lonely. She attempted to gather courage and talk to the boy, who was about the same age as her.

"Nice meeting you Penny." Hiro shyly smiled at the girl. "If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way." He stated.

Hiro figured that slamming a hammer or punching a machine wouldn't make his projects do themselves. He'd need to do Professor Lebur's projects, all due at the same time, one by one.

Seriously how did Tadashi survive that terrorizing professor?!

"Wait!" Penny exclaimed. "C-can you g-give me a tour of the place?" She asked shyly.

"M-me?" Hiro stuttered. "Y-you w-want m-me t-to gi-give y-y-yo-you a t-tour?" He asked shyly.

"Y-yeah."

Hiro gulped. He didn't expect someone his age would ask him to do something politely. Usually their eyes would be filled with jealousy and force him to do something. Thankfully with the nerd herd always by his side, those were a rare occurrence.

Penny on the other hand was at her wits end. She just asked a boy out. Technically she just asked him for a favor but that's still the same right? This would've been easy if this was someone from the studio, or even her annoying agent but asking this random boy was really a first for her.

Hiro took a deep breath, he remembered what Tadashi told him to calm his nerves.

"S-sure." He answered. "My classes ended a while ago and I have nothing better to do." He explained.

"R-really?" She stated excitedly. "Thank You."

"Its okay." Hiro smiled. "As I said, I didn't have anything better to do."

Penny nodded. She frantically searched for a topic as they walked outside the arcade. She doesn't even know what to talk to him about. She wasn't ready for this. How she wished a script would be handed to her right this instant.

Then she remembered the boy's name, Hiro. It sounded Japanese.

"So." She began. "Are you Japanese?" She inquired.

"Half." Hiro answered. "I'm a Japanese-American citizen of San Fransokyo." He added.

"I see." She nodded. "I just noticed how diverse the citizens of San Fransokyo are." She shared her observation.

"We pride ourselves that we can be accepting of people from all walks of life." Hiro proudly exclaimed. "We accept people from other religion and other races." He finished.

"Wow. I sure wish Hollywood would emulate that kind of thinking." Penny shared her opinion.

"Hah! That will be the day." Hiro exclaimed. "Anyway, I take that you're not from around here." He shared his observation to the girl with him.

"How'd you figure that out Captain Obvious?" She snarked.

"I don't know? Maybe how you suddenly asked me to tour you around." He snarked back. "For your information, that was a rhetorical question." He rolled his eyes. "I meant to ask you where you were from." He inquired.

"Oh that?" Penny replied. "Hollywood, California." Penny answered the question. "And no, that girl is not me." She added immediately.

Hiro was suspicious of how defensive she was but still decided to let the matter go. If his hunch was correct, then she wanted a life without the glamour and fame that her job had for her. He could understand that.

"So Penny, how old are you?" Hiro asked as curiosity got a hold of him.

It'd be nice if she really was around his age.

"Me? I'm thirteen." Penny answered. "You?"

"I'm fourteen." Hiro replied.

A year younger, he figured it was close enough. She was the first acquaintance that didn't look at him with jealousy and envy. She was the firstacquaintance that didn't know who he was, maybe he can be himself, no expectations to meet, no pressure to worry about.

* * *

Sometime later Penny and Hiro were inside a food store, a snack bar of some sorts. They had just placed and retrieved their orders from the counter and were sitting at the table by the entrance.

"So Hiro, we've been talking about the popular sites of the mall in the city." Penny began. "Why don't you tell me more about yourself?" She prompted.

"Who? Me?" Hiro rhetorically asked. "I don't know, I'm just an average kid." He answered the question. "Do homework, surf the net and all that jazz." He shrugged. "What about you?"

"Let's see." Penny began. "I love my pets." She shared. "I have a dog, he's coincidentally named Bolt." She continued. "A cat named Mittens and a hamster named Roger." She added. "I love them so much." She exclaimed. "Aside from that, I guess you could say I'm just a regular girl." She shrugged.

"Speaking of pets." Hiro started. "I also have one, he's name is Mocchi." He shared. "Tadashi and I found the little kitten inside a box." He continued. "Poor guy, left outside of the house." He finished.

"That's horrible." Penny exclaimed.

"I know right?" Hiro agreed. "So we decided to adopt him and named him Mocchi." He finished.

"Good on you." She praised.

Hiro noticed the wall clock by the counter and it was already seven in the evening. Time flies by so fast when you were having fun.

"Huh its already seven." Hiro pointed out as he pointed at the wall clock. "I really should get home." He admitted. "Assignments and projects to do, you know normal schoolboy routine." He smiled sheepishly.

"I get you." Penny agreed. "I'll be heading back to the hotel too." She answered. "Mom's gonna worry if I'm an hour late."

"Should I take you there?" Hiro inquired.

"No need." She politely declined. "I can make my way there besides you still have some schoolwork to worry about." She pointed out.

"True, but those can wait." He replied.

"True enough. But I can manage really." She insisted.

"If you say so."

With a mutual agreement the duo went out of the mall and stopped by the bus stop. They talked for a while as they waited for the bus to arrive and take Penny to the hotel she and her family was staying at.

"So this is goodbye then." Hiro started. "Until next time." He waved his hand as the girl got on the bus.

"Yeah." Penny replied. "Till next time."

The bus revved up its engine and began to take its passengers towards their destinations. Hiro continued to watch until the bus was out of his sight.

Truth be told, this was a great day overall, despite the fact that his professor dumped a major load of assignments and projects on him to be submitted by next week.

As soon as Hiro began to walk home, his phone rang. He retrieved his holo-phone and noticed that his older brother was calling him.

"Hello Tadashi." Hiro answered after putting the phone behind his right ear.

"Where are you Hiro?" Tadashi asked.

"At the mall." Hiro answered as he continued to walk.

"You better not be botfighting you bonehead." Tadashi warned.

"What?! I gave that up after I started at SFIT!" Hiro denied the accusation indignantly. "Besides I have freaking Professor Martin Lebur as a professor!" He began to explain. "And he just dumped a load of assignments and projects at me due next week!" He ranted. "How am I supposed to find time for botfighting?!" He asked

"Okay, fine, fine." Tadashi relented. "You've made your point." He continued. "No need to rant geez." He whined.

"Well its your fault for accusing me of botfighting." Hiro huffed.

"Anyway Hiro, I'm near the mall, want a ride?" Tadashi asked.

"Yeah sure." Hiro answered. "It beats walking back home." He shrugged.

"Well, wait there." Tadashi ordered as he ended the call.

Hiro pocketed his holo-phone and leaned on a post as he waited for his older brother.

* * *

Time passed and for the duration of the week, Penny and Hiro kept meeting each other without meaning too. They bumped into each other at the same arcade the next day after their first meeting, the next day they ran into each other at a park.

Each of those days ended up with Hiro being Penny's tour guide. Both kids didn't mind it one bit. They were enjoying each other's company.

It was Friday and both kids bumped into each other at the pier. Penny was just there to pass the time while Hiro had an errand to run. After the boy finished his errand he once again became the girl's tour guide.

"You know, I'm starting to get suspicious." Hiro admitted. "We've been running into each other for the past week." He shared. "It's like that Red String of Fate belief." He finished.

"Red String of Fate?" Penny asked.

"People of olden times said that each person has a soul mate." Hiro began. "They say that there's a red string tied to each one of our right pinky finger and the other end to our soul mate's own." He continued. "They say that the strings are oftentimes responsible for the random meet-ups two people have." He finished.

"Are you saying I'm your soul mate?" Penny teased.

Hiro blushed in embarrassment at the girl's words. He hadn't meant it like that. It was just an observation he made and connected to an old Japanese cultural belief.

"N-no!" Hiro denied. "I was just saying that because I just remembered my brother telling me that story." He explained. "Besides I don't believe in that red string thing." He admitted. "It's just an old man's belief." He finished.

"If you say so." Penny chuckled.

Penny sighed as gathered courage and admit something to Hiro.

"Hey Hiro." Penny began.

"What is it?" Hiro asked as he gave her his full attention.

"I'm going back to Hollywood tomorrow morning." She admitted.

"Really?" He replied, his voice laced with sadness.

"Yeah." She replied.

"You know it was fun having you around. "Hiro admitted. "Never really had a chance to be around people my age." He continued.

"Yeah I know." Penny admitted. "Same goes for me." She continued. "But it's not like we won't meet again right?" She ended her statements with a question.

"Totally!" Hiro perked up at the implication.

"So until next time then?" Penny asked.

"Till next time." Hiro replied.

"But first can I get your number?" Penny asked. "I can't promise to stay in touch." She added. "But I promise to notify you when I come back to San Fransokyo." She finished.

"That's great!" Hiro exclaimed.

And so both children exchanged numbers and bid their farewells to each other.

* * *

Three months has passed and both Hiro and Penny were sitting inside a children's park. Catching up with each other.

"Anyway why'd you lie to me?" Hiro asked Penny. "You WERE that child star who was Bolt's sidekick!" He exclaimed.

"I don't know? Probably the same reason as you do." Penny snarked. "Mr Graduate in High School at 13" She continued. "Or should it be Mr. College Man at 14." She chuckled.

"Touché." Hiro rolled his eyes.

"In all seriousness though." Penny began her answer." Mom suggested it when we began travelling from place to place for a well-deserved break." She explained. "It was a white lie of some sorts so that I can fully enjoy the vacation." She finished.

"Makes sense." Hiro nodded.

"How about you?" Penny inquired.

"Well it was nice talking to a kid closer to my age." He admitted. "And I was afraid that if you knew who I was, you'd think differently of me." He continued as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I was afraid that you'd look at me with envy and be jealous of me." He finished with a sheepish smile.

"My mother said the same thing." Penny shared.

The kids were laughing genuinely at the cards they were given. They were laughing at the fact that they felt disadvantageous despite their fame.

Their laughter was interrupted when Hiro's phone rang.

"Hold on a moment." Hiro stated as he retrieved his phone from his pocket.

He looked at the phone and noticed that it was already late. It was already nine in the evening and as expected his brother was worried.

"Tadashi?" Hey answered the call.

"Hiro, where are you?" Tadashi asked.

"Utsukushi Sakura park." Hiro answered. "Don't worry I'll be home soon." He reassured his brother. "I'm with a friend. I'm just waiting for her to go back to the hotel." He finished.

"You're with someone?" Tadashi's voice lowered.

"Its not what you think!" Hiro immediately defended. "She's a girl and just on vacation in San Fransokyo." He explained.

"It's a girl?" Tadashi inquired. "Bring her with you. Aunt Cass said that she'll make sure she gets back to the hotel." He ordered.

"What? Why?" Hiro questioned.

"Just do it." Tadashi answered as he hanged up.

Hiro just stared at his phone with a dumbfounded expression. He couldn't understand what was up with his older brother. Shouldn't he be happy that he found a friend all on his own?

"Who was that?" Penny asked.

"My mother hen of an older brother." Hiro sighed.

"Really mother hen?" Penny chuckled at the nickname.

"He's so overprotective of me, what do you expect me to call him?" Hiro pouted.

"You know, you're cute when you pout." She teased.

"Anyway, my brother wants me home now." He stated.

"I should be back at the hotel anyway." Penny offered. "So until tomorrow?"

"Actually, my brother kinda wanted me to bring you with me." He answered.

"May I ask the reason?" Penny inquired.

"That's where I'm stuck." Hiro admitted. "I don't know why."

"Well then let's go." Penny motioned for Hiro to move.

"Yeah." He sighed. "We won't know if we'll just stand here."

* * *

Tadashi ended the phone call. It was indeed news to him that his brother found a new friend on his own. He's proud and very happy that Hiro was able to gain a new friend without his help, but he can't help but feel suspicious of his little brother's new friend.

He went inside his aunt's café and exclaimed. "Aunt Cass, Hiro's on his way home."

"Really? Thank goodness." Cass replied in relief. "I thought he might gotten back botfighting again." She expressed her thoughts.

"Nah Aunt Cass, that wouldn't be possible." Tadashi proudly declared.

"And why is that young man?" Cass questioned as they walked towards the counter.

"He has Professor Martin Lebur as his robotics 101 teacher." Tadashi chuckled.

"Makes sense." Cass nodded. "But doesn't change the fact that the possibility is there."

"Don't let Hiro hear that." Tadashi warned. "Or he'll pout and ignore you till the next day." He chuckled.

"So that's why he ignored and pouted for one whole day three months ago!" Cass exclaimed. "He was really cute." She gushed. "Brings out the adorable side he's been hiding with his, and I quote, swag and cool, unquote." She chuckled.

Hiro indeed pouted and ignored his brother for a day three months ago. It was because of the accusation that he want back botfighting. Tadashi supposed that Hiro was just pouting to prove a point that he really wasn't going back to his old hobby.

"Anyway, he'll be coming home with a friend." Tadashi informed. "So you might want to prepare some snacks." He finished.

"So you're going to check if his newfound friend won't betray Hiro?" Cass asked.

"Yeah, you know how Hiro was bullied back in elementary." Tadashi sighed. "Especially since all of his classmates were years older than him." He explained. "I just want to make sure his new friend isn't someone who's gonna use him."

Cass smiled at how Tadashi was acting. "I see, I see." She replied. "I'll go and prepare a snack of three then." She said as she went inside the kitchen.

Tadashi nodded as he waited by the café's entrance. Hiro and his newfound friend would arrive soon.

* * *

"I'm home!" Hiro announced as he opened the entrance.

Hiro and Penny went inside the café.

"Twenty minutes." Tadashi stated as he looked at his brother and the newcomer. "So you weren't lying." He concluded.

"Oh C'mon Tadashi!" Hiro exclaimed. "How many times do I have to tell you that I stopped doing what I do?" He whined. "Can't you just believe me?" He asked.

"Calm down you knucklehead." Tadashi chuckled." I'm just teasing you." He ruffled his brother's hair. "Why don't you introduce me to your shy friend?" He smiled.

Penny was hiding behind Hiro, she was sneaking a glance at Tadashi from the younger Hamada's back. She clutched on Hiro's jacket tightly when Tadashi prompted his younger brother to introduce her.

"Calm down Penny." Hiro chuckled. "My brother's a mother hen not a crocodile." He smiled as he got behind the girl and began his introduction. "Tadashi this is Penny, Penny Forrester." He introduced his friend. "She's from Hollywood California." He added. "Penny, this my nerd of an older brother, Tadashi." He finished.

"Hello Penny" Tadashi greeted. "I'm Tadashi Hamada." Tadashi introduced himself." That bonehead's older brother." He smiled as he offered his right hand to be shook

"Nice to meet you Mr. Hamada, I'm Penny Forrester your little brother's new friend." She smiled as she shook Tadashi's right hand.

"Hiro be a dear and get some snack from Aunt Cass." Tadashi smiled. "Please."

"Fine." Hiro rolled his eyes as he went to the counter.

Penny was shaking inside as soon Tadashi ordered his little brother to go to his aunt. Hiro was leaving him to face his intimidating older brother. Why did Hiro Hamada have such an intimidating older brother?

"So Penny right?" Tadashi smiled. "How're you?" He asked.

She gulped.

"F-frankly sir." Penny began. "Nervous and intimidated." She admitted.

"Calm down Penny." Tadashi chuckled. "As Hiro said I'm a mother hen not a crocodile." He reassured. "I'm not eating you."

That's when Tadashi realized something, the bonehead just called him a mother hen.

"Wait what, did he seriously just call me a mother hen?" He questioned his companion.

"He sure did." Penny chuckled at the older Hamada's antics.

She hadn't expected this to happen. Sure he was really intimidating at first but that's only his physical appearance, those broad shoulders really helped making him look scary. In reality he was as much of a dork as Hiro.

"Why that bonehead when I get my hands on him." Tadashi glared in the general direction of the counter.

Penny giggled at how the older Hamada was acting. This was definitely something.

"So have you calmed down a bit?" Tadashi inquired as he smiled at her.

So he noticed? She didn't expect someone to notice her nervousness especially in front of him. He just made her calm down. Hiro must be lucky to have an older brother like Tadashi.

"Yeah A bit." Penny admitted.

"That's good to hear." Tadashi smiled.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Penny asked as she gulped.

"Do you know who Hiro is?" Tadashi questioned.

"He's an average kid doing school stuff" She repeated what Hiro's words. "Just a normal schoolboy."

"Hiro told you that?" Tadashi questioned.

"Yeah when we first met three months ago." Penny nodded.

"Unbelievable." Tadashi sighed.

"But to be fair, I just learned that he's San Fransokyo's resident genius." She admitted. "Found that out when I returned to Hollywood months ago." She added.

"And she's the child star who played Bolt's owner in that TV show." Hiro revealed to Tadashi as he put down the tray containing snacks for three people.

"Wait." Tadashi interrupted. "You were that Penny?" Tadashi whispered his question.

Penny merely nodded.

"Anyway." Tadashi steered the conversation back to his original topic. "I wanted to talk to you about some things concerning my brother." He continued. "You know that my brother skipped a few grades and entered college at 14." He added. "I want to emphasize that people want to exploit my little brother's age and genius for other purposes." He continued.

"You sound like my mother when she knew that I talked to a stranger." Penny chuckled. "But I get you." She stated.

"He's my little brother, I hope you can understand why I'm so protective of him." Tadashi asked.

"Don't worry I understand." She smiled at him.

"Thank you."

"Boys! I'm closing the café now." Cass announced. "Can we send Penny back to her hotel, her mother's really worried." She finished.

"Oh my God!" Penny exclaimed. "My mom!"

"Don't worry Penny, I just called her." Cass reassured the girl. "So your mother knows you're in safe hands." She continued. "So I say we hop in the van, we'll take you there."

"Really?" Penny exclaimed. "Thanks!" She expressed her gratitude.

Penny was about to stand up from her chair when her left knee hit the table.

"Ow!" Penny exclaimed as she tried to ease the pain by rubbing her knee.

A soft whirring noise echoed throughout the café. Suddenly a large white robot emerged from the behind the stairs, noisily moving the chairs and tables away from its path towards Penny.

Cass just stared in disbelief as the tables and chairs were slowly but surely getting disorganized because of Baymax. She couldn't do anything else but stare at the mess the white robot was making.

Penny on the other hand didn't know how to react as a large robot appeared. It was slowly making its way to her, judging from its actions.

Baymax stopped in front of Penny and began running his healthcare program.

"Hello!" The robot nurse began. "My name is Baymax. Your personal healthcare companion." Baymax continued. "I was alerted to the need of medical attention when you said." He added. "Ow."

After saying the preprogrammed words, Baymax waved at his patient.

"A robot." Was Penny's immediate response.

"What seems to be the problem?" Baymax inquired.

"Oh I just hit my knee." Penny admitted.

"Does it hurt when I touch it?" Baymax said then he bent down and touched Penny's knee.

"No." Penny admitted.

"I will scan you know." The robotic nurse said then began scanning his patient. "I don't see any external injuries but I detected some lung injury." Baymax revealed. "Likely due to smoke inhalation." He offered. "Have you been involved in a fire?" The robotic nurse asked.

"Y-yeah." Penny admitted. "But I was sent to a hospital right after so I'm good." She smiled.

Cass and Hiro looked at each other and then at Tadashi. It seemed the aunt and nephew had a silent conversation about what happened to Tadashi a few months back. Tadashi was also involved in a fire, which prompted the government to declare him dead.

"I suggest that you immediately go to a hospital once you begin to experience shortness of breath." The robot suggested.

"Will do Baymax." Penny answered.

"You have been a good girl." Baymax praised. "Have a lollipop." The robot said and produced a lollipop.

"Thank you Baymax." Penny expressed her gratitude.

"I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care." Baymax prompted.

"Well then." Penny smiled. "I am satisfied with my care." She finished.

Baymax nodded and began to go back to his charging station and deactivated herself.

"Mrrow." Mocchi purred as he climbed on top of a shelf.

"Mocchi, I'll feed you when we come back okay?" Cass cooed at the cat then head outside.

"What was that?!" Penny asked.

"A robot." Tadashi and Hiro answered in unison.

"I knew it was a robot!" Penny exclaimed. "But what kind?!"

"A healthcare robot." Tadashi answered.

"Tadashi made him." Hiro immediately added.

"Wow! So Hiro's not the only genius? Wow!" She expressed her awe. "What about Cass?"

"Honey, I'm just a café owner. I don't share my nephews' genius." Cass stated. "But we need to hurry else poor Mocchi won't have dinner." She chukled.

"That can't be good." Penny concluded. "Last one in the van's a rotten egg!" She declared as she raced towards the van, that was already parked outside.

"What?!" Hiro exclaimed.

Cass just smiled happily as she locked the entrance shut.


End file.
